Unbelievable

antique York safe (Los Angeles)

Tenant left this behind. I have stored for a year, but now just want to get rid of it. Research leads me to believe it is from the ’30s. Very heavy, if you can haul it away, its yours

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Me:
Greetings,

It is great fortune that I should come across this very safe. Do you still have it in your belonging?

Stacey:
Hi Sal, You are the 5th person to respond. I will keep you posted, as someone is on their way to look at it. Thanks! Stacey

Me:
Oh this is truly disheartening. If they are not able to crack the safe, I will be happy to give it a shot. We can split whatever we find inside. We do not even have to exchange any information just in case anyone is ever suspicious and tries to find us.

Stacey:
Hi, Thank you for your interest in the safe – the first person who responded picked it up.

Me:
What did you find inside?

Stacey:
While I was curious, my motivation was to get it out of the garage. After it was loaded onto the truck, though, I did say, “If you find a million bucks, send me a bottle of wine!” Perhaps I’ll enjoy a fine Bordeaux once they open it…

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Okay, I know this one isn’t all that funny but I just can’t believe she gave away a safe that she never opened! Are you kidding me?!

“Hey look, an antique safe from the ’30s that I can’t get open. A mysterious tenant abandoned it when they left. I know – I’ll just give it away and never look inside!”

I REALLY hope whoever picked it up sends her a bottle of wine, even if the safe is empty. Just a lone bottle in a box with a note that says “Thanks.” I’d love to see her face when she got that in the mail.

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16 Responses to Unbelievable

Any fucker who says they would not open the safe is a dirty liar, or else they have NO sense of intrigue or adventure. What if whatever is in the safe could solve a crime? Or what if it’s the cure for cancer? Or cold war secrets? Or the location of Jimmy Hoffa’s body? Seriously people, the possibilities are too numerous.

I agree completely. I was going to add in a comment about how I wouldnt be able to sleep at night if I were her, but honestly I, myslef, may spend a few sleepless nights wondering just what exactly Stacey gave away. The whole thing is just terrible.

Though, to be fair, were it the dismembered remains of a murder victim, odds are good you would not want to be splitting it evenly. Just sayin.
Would Stacy become an accessory to murder if it were a dead body in there?

Ugggg…I can’t stop thinking about this safe! I mean, if there were 45 numbers on the combination lock then you would only need to try like 91,000 times. How could you not find time in a YEAR to try some out? Or even 250 combinations a day? Seriously!

To add some background to the story, the previous safe owner wasn’t a complete mystery. While he had lived in the duplex for several years before we moved there, he lived there concurrent to us for two years, so I knew him. When he left, he was several months behind in his rent. Being in his financial situation, had there been anything of value in his safe, he would have retrieved it when he moved out, if not long before that when he needed the money. After he left, I called him a number of times, as did the landlord, to ask him to pick it up. He didn’t seem very concerned when he was told that it would be hauled away if he didn’t pick it up, which is not the way he would have reacted had he left behind something of value inside. I thought, at the very least, he would have wanted it to sell for scrap metal or to a collector. Apparently, it was not of enough importance.

If I hadn’t known the previous owner and his situation, if it had truly been a mysterious abandoned safe, then sure, it would have been loads of fun to try to open it. But since I knew the guy, that spoiled the intrigue for me and made the idea of opening it feel creepy.

For me, it was more fun to put the safe on Craigslist. Since a safe is one of those objects that feeds one’s imagination, it was interesting to see how people reacted to such an intriguing item. For others, it would still hold a mystery. And no, I never heard again from the folks that picked it up.

Actually, I was half expecting to get an anonymous bottle of Bordeaux from Sal…

Hey Stacey! Thanks for the background – it makes a bit more sense now why you didn’t open it. Granted, I’m very nosey so I probably still would have tried to open it, but given the situation you laid out, I can understand why you weren’t desperate to get inside. Thanks for being a good sport about the whole thing – how did you find the blog?

I am so bringing this gal on my next search for a treasure chest. “Oh! This is so hard to open!” I will say. And: “But it seems light and empty. I’ll just bring it home and use it for decoration. OK with you?”